Collaborating practitioners

The season's round of holiday parties includes those for the collaborative practice groups I belong to and they are among the most enjoyable. At the DC group party, held in a member's home, we put on skits and change the words to songs with the kind of black humor that comes with a cynical profession, but always in good fun. It is a time for us to celebrate the community of collaborative practitioners -- lawyers, mental health professionals, financial advisers -- that works together on cases during the year. We have become a pretty chummy group and we enjoy each other's company.

Clients sometimes start to feel uncomfortable when they're involved in litigation and their lawyer seems a bit too friendly with opposing counsel. The reality is, of course, that clients come and go but you have to live with your professional colleagues. Besides just professional courtesy (you know the old joke about why the shark didn't eat the lawyer), there are ethical boundaries governing how lawyers deal with each other in a case and it is better for the clients in the long run if these boundaries are not crossed. That said, every lawyer I know is totally devoted to advocating for their client.

This is true in a collaborative case as well. But in collaborative, this friendly feeling our practice group has cultivated works very much to the benefit of clients because the interaction among the professionals is an important component in making the process work. We know each other well and respect the goals of the collaborative process, and that helps a lot in smoothing over the rough patches when they occur.

And there are rough patches. With everyone sitting at the same table and discussing things at the same time, collaborative is set up to be as non-confrontational as possible, but even in the best of cases there is some emotional hurt and bitterness involved. One of the workshops at this year's forum of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals in Chicago was on how to recognize emotional "triggers" -- words or behavior that elicit an emotional response. It is good to be alert to things that trigger emotions in clients, but, as those conducting the workshop made clear, it is also very helpful to be aware as a professional of your own triggers, because your emotions can get involved, too.

There are six people sitting at the table as a rule -- the two clients, two lawyers and two mental health professionals -- and all of us are a complex bundle of good and bad qualities interacting in what is often an emotionally charged atmosphere. It demands a lot more than just legal expertise for a lawyer to make this function effectively. So we all work at cultivating the bonds -- and the self-awareness -- that will keep these three-hour meetings helpful and productive. Whether its holiday parties or workshops, it's a type of preparation that makes us professionals, well, more professional, and more effective in helping our clients through a difficult transition.